Date: Tue, 15 Jun 1999 10:36:01 -0700
From: Clare Howell
Subject: IYF-Media Watch-NYTimes/National Review
MEDIA ADVISORY - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Editor: Clare Howell, clare@gpac.org
MEDIA WATCH: THE NEW YORK TIMES AND
THE NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE
===================================
[New York, NY: 14 Jun 99] THE NEW YORK TIMES
featured gender activist and GenderPAC's
Executive Director Riki Anne Wilchins in the
Metro section 'Public Lives' column on Friday,
10 Jun 99. The profile of Ms. Wilchins, titled
'Issues of Gender, From Pronouns to Murder,' by
Carey Goldberg also highlighted GenderPAC's
lobbying efforts to have gender expression
included in pending civil rights legislation
and the need to publicize hate crimes against
gender-different people.
The Times piece drew a response the
following day from the National Review Online, a
national conservative journal. In a column titled
'Transgender Bender,' Jonah Goldberg wrote of Ms.
Wilchins: "She has a giant scar on her throat from
where they took a couple of inches off her Adam's
apple. Presumably she's got a worse scar
elsewhere."
In a wry tone, he implies that people
cross-dress as a form of rebellion, "Isn't
there some sense that they are doing something...
naughty?" and dismisses transgender people as
"...simply confused." He derides activists:
"They will tell you all sorts of stuff about
the difference between gender and sex and how
one is biological and the other is imposed. But
beyond a certain limited point, that becomes,
well, bunk. Expectations and notions of gender
may evolve, but gender itself is permanent.
Sorry."
Ms. Wilchins responded to these comments
in a letter to the NRO. She wrote, in part, "...
[Mr. Goldberg] chose to ignore or dismiss the
substance of the Times piece: that gender-
different Americans are being murdered at about
the rate of one a month, and... few people in
positions of power in the media seem to care...
Articles like Mr. Goldberg's only add to the
general climate of contempt and intolerance that
make my daily existence more difficult and make
it more likely that other gender-different
people will suffer violence."
The complete text of Ms. Wilchins' letter
follows.
###
Dear National Review,
It is unfortunate that Jonah Goldberg
felt the need to attack me personally in his
11 June 99 comments about an article in the
10 Jun 99 New York Times. I do not mind for
myself; I hear roughly the same comments about
my body, gender, and genitals daily on the
streets of New York City. I mind because he
chose to ignore or dismiss the substance of the
Times piece: that gender-different Americans are
being murdered at about the rate of one a month,
and that few people in positions of power in the
media seem to care. His column unintentionally
provides an object lesson to support that
assertion.
Mr. Goldberg plainly feels that people
like me ought not to exist. It is unclear whether
this is because I offend him personally,
politically, or both. In any case he seems
determined to comfort himself (and Review readers)
by stating that gender is fixed and predetermined.
Thus, confronted with someone whose gender is
obviously indeterminate, he hopes that saying I
do not exist will somehow make it so.
Would that life were so simple. The fact
is that people like me do exist, and we will
continue to exist, and no amount of saying that we
do not will make it otherwise. The tragedy is that
we are dying with alarming regularity for the
right to exist and live as we are.
Words have effects. Ridicule such as that
offered by Mr. Goldberg filters down to less
responsible members of society who take leave to
inflict violence upon us.
Matthew Shepard and Billy Jack Gaither are
names I assume Mr. Goldberg is familiar with.
Between the time Shepard and Gaither were killed,
five gender-different people were brutally
murdered: Rita Hester, Chanel Chandler, Steve
Dwayne Garcia, Lauryn Paige, and Tracey Thompson.
No one has heard of these victims because no
national news outlet reported their deaths.
Articles like Mr. Goldberg's only add to
the general climate of contempt and intolerance
that make my daily existence more difficult and
make it more likely that other gender-
nonconforming people will suffer violence. I
cannot believe that Mr. Goldberg approves of
murder, even of those he holds in contempt. So
perhaps before he pens his next column about those
of us who are gender-different, he will take a
moment to contemplate the risks we face and the
price we pay for the intolerance he helps nurture.
###
Subscriptions. Please contact:
Subscribe@Gpac.org
For prior releases, check the
GenderPAC website at:
http://www.gpac.org
(c) 1999 InYourFace
GenderPAC's online news-only
service for gender activism.
The opinions expressed are
not necessarily those of
GenderPAC's Board, Officers,
or membership.